The president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Astrid Pérez, achieved this Friday in Brussels that the Canary Islands lead the working group on migration of the Plenary Assembly of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE).
Astrid Pérez agreed with the president of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (Portugal), José Manuel Rodrigues, the transfer of coordination of a working group “fundamental for the present and future of our Archipelago, which is experiencing the worst migratory crisis in its history and will now be able to lead the debate before 72 regions with the capacity to legislate from European countries such as Italy, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Austria, Belgium and Germany.”
The president of the Canary Islands Parliament thus fulfills the main objective of her participation in this CALRE meeting. “We have traveled to Brussels with the firm purpose of ensuring that the Canary Islands lead the debate and reflection on the migratory crisis in Europe. Our reality, the drama we experience daily, must be the basis on which the new migration and asylum policies in the European Union are based. We will contribute to achieving this from this working group, to which we will invite all those European regions that, in one way or another, directly suffer the migratory phenomenon,” she said.
Astrid Pérez thanked José Manuel Rodrigues for his work at the head of this group. The president of the Madeira parliament defended before the CALRE Assembly the need for “the European Union to quickly have a common migration policy” and recalled “what is happening in the Mediterranean and in the Canary Islands.”
“We also appreciate the good reception and understanding on the part of the rest of the delegations and, especially, on the part of the president of CALRE, Rachid Madrane. In the Standing Committee we were able to share with representatives from all the countries that make up CALRE and with the coordinators of the groups the serious migratory crisis that we are suffering in the Archipelago, the humanitarian drama and the great work carried out by institutions and NGOs to face this challenge. With more than 32,000 people arriving on our coasts until October, more than 1,700 dead and missing on the Atlantic Route, and more than 4,300 minors welcomed, our European colleagues have understood that the Canary Islands is the territory that can contribute the most in migratory matters,” highlighted the president of the Chamber.
From now on, Astrid Pérez emphasizes that it is time to work even harder to “establish consensus and synergies with the island, regional, national and European authorities that allow us to ensure that the EU adapts its migration policy to the realities that are experienced in the Canary Islands or in other island territories such as Lampedusa, in Italy.”
“We are going to ensure that the voice of the Canary Islands is heard more and better in Europe and, through CALRE, the Parliament of our Archipelago will contribute to marking new lines of work that allow us to advance in a solution to the migratory problem that is more supportive within Spain and Europe, and more effective in control and care, which undoubtedly requires more human and material resources,” concluded Pérez.